Burgas hosts the International Youth Literary and Film Festival "Friendship - Meaning and Salvation"

Burgas will host the fourth edition of the International Youth Literary and Film Festival "Friendship - Meaning and Salvation" from May 30 to June 1, 2025. The organizers - the Center for Jewish-Bulgarian Cooperation "Alef" - expect 30 young artists from Bulgaria and abroad to participate in the forum.

The three-day festival will put the final touches on the twelfth edition of the International Literary and Film Student Competition "Whoever saves one human life, saves an entire universe". Over 130 students from 14 countries - Bulgaria, Austria, Poland, Germany, Israel, Slovakia, Ukraine, Latvia, Hungary, Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and Romania - have participated in this year's edition with inspiring artistic stories and video productions on the theme "If it weren't for them..." - dedicated to the heroes who saved human lives during the Holocaust.

The organizers have prepared a rich and diverse program for the participants, including meetings with renowned writers, journalists, and scientists such as Assoc. Prof. Dr. Georgi Bardaro, Maria Kasimova-Moase, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rumyana Hristidi, Dominique Carillo, and Elżbieta Grab. During the festival, a memorial plaque dedicated to Dr. Dyanko Parvchev - mayor of Burgas from 1939-1944, who opposed the deportation of Burgas Jewish families to Nazi camps - will also be unveiled.

The culmination of the festival will be the solemn awards ceremony for the winners of the literary competition on May 31, 2025, at the National Palace of Culture. The prize-winners in the categories "Authors from Bulgaria", "Authors from abroad" and "Video story" will be awarded, and the distinguished authors from Bulgaria will also receive the right to apply for an annual scholarship.

The project is implemented with the support of the Municipality of Burgas, the Ministry of Culture, and numerous sponsors, including the Municipality of Burgas, the Municipal Council of Burgas, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Diplomatic Institute, the Embassy of the State of Israel, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews "Polin", the Polish Institute in Sofia, the Austrian Cultural Forum, and others.